Asian stocks were higher on Wednesday with Japan's Nikkei breaking past 43,000 for the first time and global markets establishing new records. U.S. inflation data that was softer than expected added to the case for another Federal Reserve rate cut next month. Ether hit a nearly four-year high and the dollar held near a two-week low while commodities were steady.
Kim Keon Hee, wife of ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, began her first day in jail Wednesday after her arrest on bribery, fraud, and influence-peddling charges. The high-profile case deepens the political fallout for the once-powerful couple
Amid US antitrust pressure on Google parent company Alphabet, Perplexity AI has offered $34.5 billion in cash deal to purchase the Google Chrome browser. This would instantly give Perplexity reach to more than three billion people. The bid still faces uncertain funding sources but could take off if a court rules soon on a US lawsuit claiming Google abuses its market power.
The founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, has pleaded guilty to a number of fraud charges linked with the collapse of 2022 and as result TerraUSD—and Luna. The crash wiped $40 billion off the value, sparked global market tumult, and resulted in one of the high-profile prosecutions in cryptocurrency history.
Elon Musk says Apple is unfairly excluding his X platform and Grok AI chatbot from top App Store recommendations. He claims this violates antitrust laws and plans to take legal action. Apple denies bias, insisting its ranking system is fair and objective.